Deena Riley Photography :: The Blog

I was sitting here pondering what to post today and not wanting to give up on my week-o-posts (this is harder than it looks during the slower, hot as heck summer season!), and I realized it was Wednesday… time for a Wacky Wednesday!  I figured that I’m about due since I haven’t had one since April… whoops!  So, here we go… I have a feeling this one may be a little baby-centric, since, well… that’s what’s on my brain!

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Here’s a little random fact list about me and Miss A (the next segment of Wacky Wednesday isn’t about her, so if you want to skip down past the baby stuff, skip to the next division line):

• I am very proud to say that the official weight gain for this pregnancy is only 8 pounds.    That’s a “net” figure… I lost a lot of weight during the first trimester (well over 10 pounds) due to nausea / lack of appetite, so I’ve gained that all back plus 8 pounds.  But if you look at my starting weight and my current weight, the official number is 8 pounds.  I’m pretty proud of that and it gives me hope for getting back in shape after she comes.
• Miss A is still cooking… although we weren’t sure she would be at this point.  Mikel and I thought there might be a possibility they might induce today after my check up.  They’ve been watching me for sporadic signs of pre-eclampsia (I even spent an afternoon in L&D 2 weeks ago being monitored for blood pressure, contractions, and the baby’s heart rate), and thought that since I will officially hit “full term” – 37 weeks – this week, they might go ahead and decide it’s time to induce just in case.  Luckily, it seems that most of the symptoms I’ve been having have calmed down and they’re just watching me closely for the time being.  They did mention today that there’s a chance they may move my scheduled induction up to August 3 from August 10 just because she’s measuring ahead, so that’s exciting.  We may be less than 2 weeks from baby!  Ack!  Luckily, our bags are packed as of this morning (we were wanting to be as prepared as possible if they decided to spring an induction on us at the appointment).  We’ll find out next week when the official eviction date is.
• At last check, Miss A was weighing in at 6+ pounds, according to the sonogram – take that with a grain of salt because they’re known to be off.
• I had a major cooking day on Monday to get some meals in the fridge so I wouldn’t have to cook too much after Miss A makes her appearance.  I split several recipes into 2 smaller disposable pans so we’d have less leftovers and more meals ready to go.  I ended up with 2 pans of Chicken Taco (my family’s version of King Ranch Chicken), 2 pans of Chicken Spaghetti/Tetrazzini (whatever you like to call it), 2 pans of lasagna, and a batch of the Pioneer Woman’s “Comfort Meatballs” – they’re in a homemade BBQ sauce instead of a marinara sauce and promise to be good as sandwich material.
• Mikel went to “Daddy Boot Camp” last night at the hospital.  It seems he got a lot of good information, but it kinda cracked me up.  We’ve gone to a bunch of classes at the hospital (childbirth, nursing, baby care, car seat…), and most all of them ended on time and we were out of there at a reasonable hour.  It seems the men were eager to talk without their wives around last night because they went an hour and a half past the advertised end time!  I didn’t mind at all (I had Cake Boss episodes on DVR that I hadn’t watched), but I just found it funny that they decided to be chatty when at every class I went to, it was the wives asking questions!

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Sunday night, Mikel and I went to the Michael Buble concert at the AAC.  It was amazing!  Michael’s voice is just as incredible in person as it is on recordings and he’s so charmingly personable during the show.  You felt like he was your friend (your foul-mouthed friend, by the way… it wasn’t like he dropped the f-bomb every other word, but he definitely didn’t censor himself – I’d call it a show for the 12 and over crowd, if you know what I mean).  What Mikel and I are were most surprised about was the opening act.  We’d never heard of them before and actually weren’t concerned about showing up for the concert on time (we had dinner reservations beforehand).  We figured if we get there to see them, great!  If not, oh well!  I am so glad we go there on time because they were simply amazing – they’re a group called Naturally 7 and they’re out of NYC.  They are AMAZING – every. single. thing. about their show is a cappella voices.  Absolutely zero instruments, but they sound like they have a full orchestra going on at times.  Here’s one of my favorites (and how they opened the show we saw… long, but worth it!):

They were so much fun to watch and Mikel & I were both continually amazed by what they were able to do!  I must remember to go hit iTunes to get a few of their songs before long…

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My favorite commercial right now:

Is it wrong that I want to find a way to work the phrase “Jack Wagon” into normal, everyday conversation these days?  It probably is, but I think it might be my new favorite phrase.  I love R. Lee Ermey.

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Ok, I know this hasn’t been the longest of Wacky Wednesdays, but I feel like I’ve been talking your ear off!  Ha!  So, I’m going to leave it on that note.  That’s right.  The note I want to leave you on is “Jack Wagon!”  Don’t hate me.    I should be back tomorrow with more riveting posts… now to dream up something to post about!

I was doing so good for a few weeks there with my Wacky Wednesdays, but alas alack… the crazy busy thing called my life has once again slowed up my Wacky Wednesday progress!  Things are absolutely nutty around here – I have my classes faces the TAKS test next week (I’m not worried though – I have great kids!), Mikel has had UIL competition for his band (that finished up this past Wednesday),  our house, our dog, and our cat all need our attention, I’m growing a human, and, of course, there is this little photo business to run!  Crazy fun times!  Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining.  I’m one of those people who likes to always be busy and is constantly creating projects for myself.  I like having lots to do!

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Speaking of lots to do… this should be a 4 shoot weekend (I usually only book 2 shoots a day for my own sanity and to be able to provide the best possible service for my clients).  I usually don’t shoot on Sunday mornings, but thanks to the random weather, we have shoots that have been rescheduled.  So, long story short – watch the blog next week!  Lots of goodies coming your way!

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Care for a random note?  Yesterday, I saw a huge Red Tailed Hawk right outside the school where I work.  It was insane.  I tried to get a photo with my iPhone, but it flew away before I could get everything going.  Something you don’t see everyday in the ‘burbs.

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Scheduling Note:  May is booking fast.  Really fast.  June is starting to go as well, and I’m having inquiries about July.  And then… August I’m off because, you know, I’m having a baby and stuff.  Holy crap.  May, June, July… that doesn’t seem that long until Arabella is here!  I expect July to go quickly because I will be offering a Christmas in July special soon as an incentive to get your holiday card portraits done while you’re in swimsuit shape and tan and stuff!     Well, that, and my Christmas season will be abbreviated this year due to my maternity leave… you’ll want to get on the schedule early.  Last year we were booked solid + (in other words, we were squeezing people in at the most random of times) – this year’s schedule won’t be quite so flexible as we figure out this whole holding down a full time job, running a business, and raising an infant combo thing we’ll have going on.  FYI

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I wish I had more exciting things to report, but we’re just trying to keep everything going until school lets out and we have a little more time to work on everything – our house, Bella’s room, the natural light studio, etc.  I’ll keep you updated of any exciting developments of course.  Now, to go try to get some sleep… if Bella will stop kicking me for a few minutes, that is!

Taking care of some bidness first:  April is officially booked solid and has a waiting list started!  May is starting to fill up quickly.  If you want to get spring pictures in before the heat of summer hits us hard, now is the time to get on the calendar!

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Part of my May schedule is a fundraiser for a couple of equestrian drill teams which is really exciting to me!   I’m also a little nervous… the plan is 14 mini-sessions in 1 day when I’m going to be 27 weeks pregnant.  No biggie, right?  I will have Mikel there assisting me and probably several gallons of ice water at my side.  I’ll be fine!  At least, that’s what I’m telling myself…  hehehe

If all goes well, I’ll be adding fundraising opportunities for your group to my offerings!  All session fees and a portion of all print and product profits will go to your group.  If you think you may be interested, let me know by dropping me an e-mail!

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Tonight’s dinner consisted of this recipe with this on the side.  It was absolutely delish, but while I was getting everything ready to be served I forgot that the baking sheet I had thrown some bread on was still fire hot (I had just taken it out of a 425 degree oven about a minute before).  I totally grabbed it full on with my left hand and burned the tarnation out of all of my fingers except my pinky.  Hellloooooo blister town.  Yikes!  They thankfully have become somewhat numb (not scary numb, just not stinging like crazy), so I can actually type with both hands now.

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We got the fabric for Arabella’s bedding last weekend!  Hooray!  1 step closer to getting the nursery closer.  We’ll actually take it in to be made into bedding in the next week or so.  Hopefully, we’ll get her room cleaned out completely soon so we can get her furniture!

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Speaking of Miss Bella, she is definitely having her active moments these days.  I can tell she’s getting stronger, too.  Her kicks are definitely getting more pronounced.  I’ll do a belly shot (the maternity kind, not the drunken college kind) soon so you can see her progress!

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OK, I think I’m going to go ice my poor, blistered fingers a little more.  Stay tuned this weekend – I have a couple of fun shoots on the books!

It *definitely* feels like Spring has sprung around here – in more ways than one!  Temperatures are warmer (love it!), days are longer (love it even more!), and we’re starting to see the classic Texas spring weather in our forecast as well – storms, hail, tornadoes…  While those things are not *typically* a laughing matter, they are to me because the beginning of Texas spring storms seems to coincide with the beginning of the new Dancing with the Stars season each spring!  I’m patiently waiting for the first time they go to commercial, and the first thing we hear is Pete Delkus telling us he’s not going to interrupt Dancing with the Stars unless he has to – then I will know that spring is truly here!  hehehehe

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Speaking of Spring, it seems to have hit the middle school crowd HARD.  Now, I can’t tell any specific stories due to privacy laws, but let’s just say I’m seeing some truly silly, wacky, and unexplainable behavior right now.  Luckily, since they’re 13 and 14 year olds, they are still fairly shy about public displays of affection – so at least I’m not seeing too much of *that* kind of spring behavior.  However, everyday there seems to be a moment where I just have to shake my head and laugh because some of the things they say and do are just so random!  Love them, though!

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Major progress is being made on our natural light studio!  I think the painting will be done very soon (maybe even tomorrow!) which is a MAJOR step in the right direction!  The other major step will be to rip out the carpet and stain the concrete, which is actually a project that will encompass the majority of our house.  We’re leaving carpet in the bedrooms, but that’s about it.  We have yucky, white, low grade builder’s carpet that seems to keep every. single. hair. from Max’s body.  We go over it with the Dyson all of the time and just can’t seem to get it all out of this stupid carpet.  I’m concerned about it being a health/allergen problem when the baby gets here, so out it must go!  I *love* the stained concrete look and feel it will fit our lifestyle SOOOO much better.  I can’t wait for that project to start (and be completed!)

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Speaking of studio plans… if you’re a Twitter follower or Facebook friend, you saw that a couple of weeks ago I taught myself to “knit!”  I put it in quotation marks because it’s the round loom style of knitting which isn’t exactly rocket science, but I’m pretty pleased with myself nonetheless!  I took up this little hobby to not only outfit Arabella with some majorly cute homemade hats, but also to stock our studio with cute, cuddly knit items that can be used in newborn and baby shoots!  I’ve purchased some knit items from the “pros” on Etsy, but I’m excited to be supplementing my stockpile with things I’m making myself!  I’ll post some photos soon when I finish up a couple of projects that I’m currently working on!

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Okie dokie… I think that’s all for tonight.  I have about a billion and one projects that I’m working on / thinking about / thinking about thinking about these days!  I’ll be posting more random thoughts soon!

So, Mikel and I are on Spring Break this week… and I have a head cold – of course!  I only have about a million things on the to do list this week, and I have been completely laid up in bed for the past couple of days.  Head colds just seem to wipe me completely out in my current condition.  I guess that makes sense though, right?  My body drains my energy to keep baby Arabella kickin’ and healthy?! (Have I mentioned that the baby is a girl on the DRP blog?!  Well, she is, and her name is Arabella Marie!)  Please tell me I’m not insane.  Anyway, things are going well besides that, though!

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If you’ve been checking out the baby’s blog, you know that we have some major home reorganization and renovations under way.  Namely, we’re moving our office into what was our guest room (actually, that happened today!) and we’re converting what was our office into a natural light studio perfect for newborns and small children!  I am so excited to have a set up in our house that will allow us to provide a fabulous setting for our clients’ sessions.  Of course, we’ll still be happy to travel to your home for these sessions, but it gives us a whole new option to offer you.  I am soooo excited and will share photos soon!  We’ll also need some little models to try out the new studio in the coming months!

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Ever seen a 2 day old llama?  No?

Now you have.  Her name is Lacey the Llama (or, so says my 5 year old niece, Madison).  You’re welcome.

Here’s one with her Mama – you remember Dolly Llama, right?!

I think there’s a family resemblance there.  I really do.

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Only 11 weeks of school left!  Hooray!   I am ready for this summer and all that this summer will bring!  The kiddos were starting to get that spring-fever-we’re-done-with-school attitude right before Spring Break – I can’t imagine what it will be like starting next week.  And whatever it’s like next week, it will be 10 times worse when TAKS testing is over at the end of April.  Say a little prayer for my ever-less-mobile self as I try to keep up with them!

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Don’t forget to schedule your bluebonnet / wildflower session.  They’re coming up soon!

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I’m pondering a change for the website.  I’m thinking of converting it into a “blogsite” – basically, all of the information you need is included in the blog with galleries available in the menu bar for those interested.  What do you think?  Please answer the poll below:

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Thanks for hanging in with this random Wacky Wednesday!  More soon…